Thursday 17th - Thursday 24th January 2013 ~ Good Days and Bad

The adverse weather conditions continued to affect the X1 service on several days during this period. Going back to Thursday 17th January, I've managed to piece things together thanks to various friends as myself and Bruce were not able to view everything. The morning seemed to run reasonably well in the west, but the afternoon was a different matter. Further east there were problems in the morning though. Malcolm didn't see any X2 services this morning, but he did spot 37156 arriving into Lowestoft on K16-XL03 at 10.40 where it had been due at 09.40, so precisely an hour late. It left 'not in service' at 10.42 and was next seen by Bruce at 14.10 heading to Peterborough, now running 37 late. K17-XL04 appeared to run near to time with 37579 being seen approaching Wisbech from the Wisbech St. Mary route at just before 16.00. K19, K1 & K2 (XL13-15) were delayed and some overtaking may have taken place. 37572 on K19-XL13 16.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft arrived at the rail station at 17.05 and departed a minute later, so it was running in the times of K2-XL15. Bruce saw two Peterborough bound services leaving Wisbech almost together at 16.15, so presumably K1 and K2 which by now were running with 37577 & 37573. 37576 was involved in a skirmish with a car today while working Y6-XL12 and had to be replaced by 37575 for repairs to be made. 37160 was fresh from MOT this evening. 37156 & 37577 returned from Lowestoft to Lynn tonight in place of 37571 & 37572 caused by the day's disruption.
Friday 18th began with 37577 seen parked in a layby near Walsoken on K1-XL07, all must have been Ok though as it continued the turn and was on time by the afternoon. Diversions were in operation for much of the morning after the A47 was closed at Necton because of an accident, David Leathart was surprised to see a Lowestoft bound X1 in Watton High Street at 10.10, it turned left at Queens Hall traffic lights and headed for Dereham. I am told that only eastbound buses used this diversion. Delays at Necton meant that Y6-XL12 05.50 from Great Yarmouth did not arrive in King's Lynn in time for its 08.15 departure to Peterborough, so 37567 was sent from Vancouver Avenue to form this service. When 37578 arrived on Y6, it became Y7-XL13 and some other shifting of vehicles resulted. Afternoon punctuality was pretty good for a Friday, but 37159 on K18-XL05 was changed at King's Lynn for 37573.
 So we move on to Saturday 19th January and overnight snow caused less disruption than expected. In fact this was probably the best day for X1 punctuality SINCE I STARTED THIS BLOG !! Drinks all round then (well unless you are driving that is !). I viewed all 19 services passing through Wisbech and every one was within 3 minutes of time or even slightly early, with the exception of one. The black sheep was K2-XL08 15.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough which passed me almost 6 minutes late with 37579. Otherwise an absolutely splendid day and one I will certainly remember for a long time.37157 was stopped today for compressor attention and then for MOT preparation. 37566 found itself on L8-XL14 today, but was needed for a safety service on Monday. Because of this it was taken off L8 at 18.45 and 37564 replaced it. 37566 was then required to relieve 37577 at 19.45 on Y10-XL16, so it did the 19.50 to Peterborough and back before being positioned over the pits for attention on Monday as scheduled.
The evening of Sunday 20th saw First withdraw services early because of snow. This barely affected the X1 though, as by this time drivers were in position to complete their turns. The driver of 37565 on the 21.35 King's Lynn - Lowestoft saw very few passengers and would have travelled empty had it not been for a single passenger who needed to get to Yarmouth and then once he'd successfully arrived there, another person who wanted to go to Gorleston. Because of the paucity of traffic, the bus was at its destination on time. The 21.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough which should have been 37573 is believed to have been cancelled because of the deteriorating weather conditions. 37571 was replaced by 37156 at some stage today on XL09 diagram.
Monday 21st January was an extremely unusual day on the X1 with the service effectively running in two parts, from Lowestoft to Yarmouth (or possibly Norwich - I'm not sure on that one) and Norwich - Peterborough. Some services were cancelled and as an example of how things worked out, 37156 worked K3-XL09 as booked until arrival in Norwich at 11.20, it then turned round and became K17-XL04 11.55 Norwich - Peterborough and again back as far as Norwich where it finally became L11-XL17 18.20 Norwich - King's Lynn.

37156 after it had retired for the night after a rather unusual day.

Malcolm was at Lowestoft to see some of the shuttles at that end noting 37572 arriving at 10.08 and departing as a Service 1 to Yarmouth at 10.28, 37578 arrived at 10.24 and 37575 at 10.47. In the afternoon 37575 arrived at 13.51 and left again at 14.06 while 37578 arrived again at 14.34. Dart 43465 was turned out for the 14.38 X2 to Norwich. 32651 was in contrast noted by Malcolm on a contract working.
On Tuesday 22nd, the X1 service reverted to its normal weekday timetable. Bruce noted 37573 on K3-XL09 08 56 Wisbech - Lowestoft travelling almost in convoy with 37159 which was out on a test run. 37579 on K4-XL10 following came through 14 late and going the other way L8-XL14 passed through en route to Peterborough 12 late with 37567. Things then seemed to pretty much run to timetable. K14-XL01 12.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough had 37159 after an obviously successful test run, it having replaced 37566 at Lynn. At Lowestoft, 37156 arrived 17 late on K16-XL03, getting away westbound just 9 late. 37568 with K17-XL04 then came in 11 late and departed 3 late. 37158 on K18-XL05 then arrived 10 late. The X2 had Dart 42458 on the 09.05 from Norwich and Palatines 34156 on the 10.38 and 34155 on the 14.38 to Norwich.
The early part of the week saw 37576 still sidelined with its bodywork repairs and 37157 on MOT work.

37563 bang on time with Wednesday's 10.36 from Walpole Highway to Lowestoft (XL12)

  Wednesday 23rd's service ran fairly smoothly with just two bus changes required and timekeeping was good on the 24th with only Y13-XL19 and 37160 exceeding 10 minutes delay and even this came back from Peterborough just 5 late. Now isn't it this year we are supposed to be getting new buses ? More news on this next time.